I am just wondering whether it is possible to map (and set to store) data that sits on the other side of your external NIC?

I know this sounds a little silly, but my network is in two segments, 1 is my main PC network (192.168.2.0/24) which my LMCE box external nic connects to. I then have my LMCE network (192.168.80.0/24). All my mds etc are on the lmce side. I do have a large file server sat in my main network. Am I able to map this to LMCE without moving it over?

Sorry for the long delay in my reply (teach me not to pay the phone bill ). Thanks for the replys, I will get this setup now.

I am wanting to keep the two networks separate is mostly down to me using smoothwall and do not want to setup a double NAT (smoothwall is running a vpn connection to a few of the families houses). I just don't like the idea of lmce been my main gateway to the internet, and would like to be able to shutdown without everything else loosing connectivity.

To emphasise one of Thom's points - the core is designed to be left on permanently. If you intend to be turning it on and off as needed, then you are setting yourself up for failure as you will need to reengineer the system. Work with the idea that the core stays on, and you will have no issue.

I listen to what you guys say.. all i can say is that if i use my free will and setup things outside of the recommended way... i don't ask you for help with it if/when i have problems...

That's fine with me. The only thing I do not understand is, you are saying you plugged in the MAC address and IP address of your outside NAS system. And you do not have a problem. That seems strange, as each time I added the mac address AND ip address, it would screw DHCP after I added a new MD. Could you post your /etc/dhcpd.conf file maybe together with mac address of your external NAS? I'd like to take a look at the details.

I listen to what you guys say.. all i can say is that if i use my free will and setup things outside of the recommended way... i don't ask you for help with it if/when i have problems...

That's fine with me. The only thing I do not understand is, you are saying you plugged in the MAC address and IP address of your outside NAS system. And you do not have a problem. That seems strange, as each time I added the mac address AND ip address, it would screw DHCP after I added a new MD. Could you post your /etc/dhcpd.conf file maybe together with mac address of your external NAS? I'd like to take a look at the details.

Thanks

I can do that.. problem is... Im in the process of moving. I wont get everything and connected until beginning of July..

No...you don't have to place your PC inside the LinuxMCE network and I most definitely wouldn't. I don't claim to know what I'm talking about all that well, but in my mind what you need to do is establish a static route for the information to go through. To do this, your outside and inside networks should ideally be on separate subnets and address spaces. For examples sake, lets make the external network use IPs in the 192.168.1.X range and be on the 255.255.255.0 subnet and lets mate the LinuxMCE internal network be on he 192.168.0.X address space and be on the 255.255.249.0 address space. Here's where it gets tricky and I have had problems in the past between various distros/devices/OS. You need to set up a static route that directs all traffic headed to ("destination") 192.168.1.0 through the external interface ("gateway") Try one of the three options:

Use the IP address assigned to the Core's external NIC as the gateway

Use 0.0.0.0 as the gateway

Use "default" as the gateway

Make sure to set the subnet (or netmask) to 255.255.255.0 and select the correct interface. This tip comes from my experience with Linux in general and not just LinuxMCE although it should be equally applicable.

If there is no GUI to do this, try entering the following (adjust the address/device for your setup) into a console:

ip route add to 192.168.1.0 dev eth0 (might be 192.168.1.0/24)

Keep in mind that the preceding command will be erased when the system is rebooted. To make this permanent, you must edit the /etc/network/interfaces file and add:

Edit: Upon further research into the topic, it appears you may keep the subnet masks the same without any problems and it may be beneficial to do so as there are some weird calculations performed in binary to determine certain address information. Experiment with it and see what works.